Making the Shift From Student Engagement to Empowerment

This video was interesting to me because it made connections to several of the other articles and videos that I had found.  The video is all about making shifts from old ways of teaching to new ways of learning.  It begins with explaining a 3 way shift from compliance to engagement, and then ultimately, to empowerment.  There were several other shifts mentioned and the ones that I found to be the most powerful were the following:  shift from a teacher saying what you must learn to what do you want to learn, from taking assessments to assessing your own learning, and from differentiated instruction to personalized learning.  All of these shifts were very powerful to me as a teacher.  All of them show a shift from compliance towards self-direction and empowered learners.  Students who are empowered to take charge of their learning will ultimately be the same ones to change the world.

Why Consuming is Necessary for Creating

This video had a different way of looking at the consumer versus creator aspect of being an empowered learner.  Instead of just saying students should be creators instead of consumers, it tells us that consuming is actually necessary in order to create.  They use specific examples such as a chef needing to consume different foods to decide what he wants to create, or an athlete studying recordings of other athletes to create their own plays.  They go on to explain that in order to be creators, you must first critically consume or consume with intentionality.  This intentionality leads to inspiration which then leads to creating work.  In general, our students need to be able to shift away from compliance and more towards engagement.

This is a picture of an example of a Reading Choice Board.  It is an example of the first standard "Empowered Learners" because it puts the learning right back into the hands of the students.  Not only are the students able to choose what skill they want to work on, but they are also able to choose the activity and how they want to show what they have learned through the use of technology.  This activity could easily be added to Google Classroom for students to use on a weekly basis for any subject area.

This is an example of a book report that I used with some students who were reading above grade level. The students picked out the book that they wanted to read together.  They used a template that I created through Google Slides to begin their project.  The technology requirements were that they had to include graphics, photographs, and text boxes on their slides.  They were encouraged to use different fonts, sizes, and colors throughout.  They also had to include one slide for each chapter of the book.  The students loved having the freedom and choice to make their slides into something that they could create.  When they were finished they presented their slides to the class. These students were definitely empowered through choice, having a voice, and using technology.